You’re so close to the truth, here, Bob (can I call you Bob?), but you’re blinded by your anti-gun bias.

“Give me one example of an athlete — I know it’s happened in society — but give me one example of a professional athlete who by virtue of his having a gun, took a dangerous situation and turned it around for the better. I can’t think of a single one. But sadly, I can think of dozens where by virtue of having a gun, a professional athlete wound up in a tragic situation.”

Getting back to the idea that you’re a moron, how can you speak those words and not understand what you’re saying? Let me break it down for you.

You can’t think of a single example where a gun, in the hands of a professional athlete, led to a good outcome in a dangerous situation.

You acknowledge that guns do contribute to good outcomes in those situations among the general population.

You can’t think of a single example where a gun, in the hands of a professional athlete, led to a good outcome in a dangerous situation.

You acknowledge that guns do contribute to good outcomes in those situations among the general population.

Do you see where I’m going with this? You’re not talking about a problem with the “gun culture”, whatever it is that you mean by that, Bob, and you’re not talking about a problem with the law-abiding general population. You’re talking about a problem with the pro sports culture. And when I say “pro sports,” I’m mainly talking about football today and I’m including D1 college ball.

Now, there are many, many fine, law-abiding, upstanding individuals playing pro sports and this post specifically does not refer to them; unfortunately there are also a substantial number who take their own press too seriously. They’ve been pampered, coddled and told they’re special…some of them since before they entered high school. It’s not hard to imagine how they come to feel entitled to special treatment. They indiscriminately father illegitimate children, some of them in numbers that would be comic if it weren’t so tragic. Then, they mock Tim Tebow for declining to join them in their bad behavior.

They’ve not been made to face the consequences of their own actions. A case in point? Jerramy Stevens, a man who should have been in jail for assault but instead was playing football, on “scholarship” (and don’t even get me started on that), at the University of Washington, where he committed rape, but instead of serving time, was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks. And who, a decade later, is still behaving badly.

Maybe it’s just me, but this is not my idea of a healthy sub-culture. And, Bob, you project it onto the larger population. Now you think we need to have a conversation about guns and easy access to guns. I disagree. I don’t think that law-abiding citizens should have to accept, or even consider, any more infringements on their Constitutionally guaranteed right to keep and bear arms. Maybe it is time, though, to have a conversation about the pro sports culture and how it contributes to producing infantile men-children who blunder about like malicious Baby Hueys, unaware of their own potential for causing harm, requiring ever increasing amounts of supervision to keep them from harming themselves and those around them.

And that’s a conversation where I think you could add some value, Bob.

LALALAND – A teen was killed by a gun in a shooting Saturday afternoon inside a local mall, officials said.

The gun remains at large, but a police spokesman said investigators anticipated identifying it soon.

The gun is described as a silver-colored pistol that may have had a gang sign engraved on the grip. It was last seen fleeing the scene.

At least four other guns were detained and questioned about the shooting, but were subsequently released.

As police searched for the gun Saturday night, they allowed store employees and customers remaining in the mall to exit in small groups. After the search was completed, police said the gun may have taken a human hostage and forced him or her to help it escape.

Witnesses said they heard at least three shots fired around 3:45 p.m. near the mall’s food court. The gunfire sparked immediate panic, and people started running for the exits. Police and medics raced to the scene, lights flashing.

It was not clear exactly what prompted the shooting, but witnesses said the gun may have been involved in a verbal altercation with the victim prior to the gunfire.